


Home Sweet Home

by Candy_A



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Angst, Drama, M/M, Series: New Beginnings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-12-11 04:36:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/794034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Candy_A/pseuds/Candy_A
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim brings Blair home from the hospital.<br/>This story is a sequel to Visiting Hours.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home Sweet Home

## Home Sweet Home

by Candy Apple

Author's disclaimer: UPN and Pet Fly own the guys and The Sentinel. No money being made.

* * *

Home Sweet Home  
by Candy Apple 

"How're you feeling, Chief?" 

"I'm okay. Just a little tired," Blair responded, watching the city move quickly past the truck window. It was probably Jim's fifth inquiry since they'd left the hospital, but Blair didn't really mind a doting Jim. It was kind of a nice feeling to have the larger man "hovering". 

"We're almost there," Jim responded, turning onto Prospect and heading down the final few blocks toward the loft. "I figured on making us dinner--spaghetti okay?" 

"Sounds good," Blair responded, smiling a little. He couldn't seem to shake the depression that lingered with him since his brush with death. Maybe it would just take time to heal from the pain of the near-split of his relationship with Jim and to get over the shock of knowing he'd been clinically dead for a prolonged period of time. 

"What's wrong?" Jim asked softly. Blair had to smile, realizing that the human vital sign monitor in the driver's seat had assessed all of his body's current functions to determine that something, in fact, _was_ wrong. 

"It's just been a lot to process...the last several days. Seems a little weird seeing the outside world again. Going home...I haven't been there in a while." 

"I tried to get everything back the way you had it. If anything's not right, you just tell me and I'll fix it." 

"You unpacked everything?" 

"Yesterday, while Rafe and Brown were visiting with you." 

"You mean babysitting me?" Blair asked, smiling to let Jim know it was a good-natured jab. 

"I didn't want you coming home to cartons. Ever again." The last two words were so quiet that Blair barely heard them. 

"Thanks." 

"There's one other thing we haven't talked about." 

"What's that?" 

"I, uh, kind of changed a couple things around. Your stuff's all on the shelves and most of it's stored the way you had it. But, uh, I put a few things upstairs. I'm kind of thinking now that I should have asked." 

"You know you can borrow anything I've got, Jim. You don't have to ask." It didn't occur to Blair until Jim's uneasy silence what he had meant. 

"I wasn't talking about borrowing a couple of tribal masks to brighten up my walls," he replied, a little annoyed to be forced into verbalizing even more than he already had. 

"You mean, like my clothes and stuff?" 

"The stuff you wear all the time, and your socks and underwear in the drawer..." Jim let the sentence trail off with a shrug. 

"You want me to sleep upstairs?" 

"Only if you want to. I can have everything moved back downstairs in a flash if you want to sleep in your old room. No problem." 

"I don't feel up to very much yet," Blair said quietly. 

"I want you 100% healthy first. Everything else can wait. I just thought it might be, you know, kind of, uh, nice...we'd be together that way." 

"I'd love to move upstairs," Blair responded finally, smiling. 

"Longer trip to the bathroom." 

"I think you're worth a long walk to the john," Blair replied, laughing a little. He was amused to see that Jim was, in fact, blushing slightly as he shared the laugh. 

The loft looked like home. Jim had done exactly as he said and put everything back to sentinel's-eye perfection. If Blair hadn't seen it for himself, he'd have never believed that his things had been moved or that the apartment had been stripped to the bones a little over a week earlier. The only thing that caught his eye as being different was the banner that hung from the railing around the loft bedroom: WELCOME HOME, CHIEF was painted in very neat, perfect red block letters on a white paper banner. Blair hated that his first reaction to this cheery greeting was tears, but if coming home to a "home" he never thought he'd see again hadn't been enough, and if moving into Jim's bed hadn't been enough, the simple gesture of the banner was enough to rattle the fragile control he seemed to have over his emotions. 

"Blair?" Jim let the duffle bag he'd carried in for Blair drop to the floor and moved to his partner's side. "What's wrong, sweetheart?" The endearment pushed the younger man over the edge, and he turned to Jim and wrapped his arms around the solid torso, crying against Jim's shoulder. "Shhh. It's okay, baby." Jim enveloped him in strong arms and stroked his hair gently. "I've got you. It's okay," he murmured again, patting Blair's back lightly. 

"I'm sorry." 

"No. _I'm_ sorry, Chief. I'm so sorry I hurt you so badly. I didn't mean to." 

"Not that...it's just...so good to...be home," Blair managed, grabbing fistfuls of the fabric of Jim's shirt. "I thought...I'd never...see the inside...of this place...like this again." 

"I thought the same thing when I had to unpack everything," Jim responded, rubbing Blair's back and smiling when the answer earned a watery laugh. 

"I...love the banner." 

"I love _you_ ," Jim replied simply, squeezing Blair as tightly as he dared. "I'm not ever going to let you forget it again, Chief," he added softly, kissing the top of Blair's head. 

"I didn't mean to lose it like this." Blair pulled away and wiped at his eyes. "Since...since what happened, it just feels like everything is right up there at the surface. I can't explain it." 

"You had a pretty good scare, sweetheart. It's understandable. After the crash in Peru, I sort of felt that way myself." 

"You were coping with the deaths of your whole unit." 

"That's true, but coming face to face with my own death was a pretty jarring experience. It leaves you a little shaky." Jim laid a hand on Blair's back and rubbed lightly. "Ready to go upstairs and lie down for a while?" 

"I just got up." 

"But you're tired. The doctor said bed rest, Chief." 

"I _am_ kind of winded. I thought I was going to feel better than this." 

"He said there'd be some residual effects from the nerve gas." Jim shuddered slightly. "Thank God she didn't know enough about what she was doing to give you a bigger dose." 

"If I hadn't been gassed, I would've drowned." 

"It was the best way things could have played out considering the circumstances." 

"Feels like I must've had some pretty decent Karma working for me." 

"Come on. Time to get you to bed." Jim completely startled his partner by lifting him up into his arms and heading for the stairs. 

"I didn't break my legs, Jim," Blair protested. 

"Going up takes a lot more effort than going down. I don't want you getting out of breath. I haven't had as much time to work with the weights lately anyway," Jim teased, starting up the steps. He was relieved to feel Blair relax a little, his head drooping onto Jim's shoulder. "My wall hanging!" Blair exclaimed, noticing the adornment from his old room downstairs gracing one of the previously bare walls of the upstairs bedroom. 

"I hope you don't mind that I moved it up here. I thought you might like having something _you_ picked out up on the wall." Jim deposited Blair so he was sitting on the edge of the bed. 

"It's great." Blair glanced over at the dresser, and his eyes widened. "It looks like I've always slept up here," he said, scanning the array of personal things that had been on his small dresser downstairs that were now sharing this dresser top with Jim's things. In the middle, both men's small collections of framed photos shared the space. 

"If you want to change anything, go right ahead. I split the drawers up half and half--I'm on the left, you're on the right. I did the same thing with the closet." Jim shifted a little nervously from one foot to the other. "Maybe I'm being a little pushy with all this. I didn't ask you first. I guess I was kind of, uh, well," Jim stammered, then smiled slightly. "I was kind of...walking on air a little after all that kissing we were doing last night." 

"I think it's great, man. I _want_ to be here. Like this." Blair gestured at the dresser and the room in general. 

"I don't _ever_ want to see your stuff packed up separately again." 

"Me either," Blair replied, grinning and standing up to wrap his arms around the man he loved. "I love you." 

"You too, baby." Jim returned the pressure of the hug, then stepped back. "Bed." 

"All this just to have your way with me, huh?" Blair teased, shedding his jacket and unbuttoning his shirt. 

"Naptime. No arguments." 

"Yes, sir," Blair replied, executing a sloppy salute. 

"Smart ass," Jim retorted as he swatted Blair's butt playfully on his way to turn back the bed. 

Blair took his nap as ordered, and laughingly accepted what he called the Ellison Taxi Service downstairs for dinner, TV and a little stint of kissing on the couch. With a whine of protest, Blair had finally cooperated with the activity being halted before it got too interesting and took his shower, then was delivered to the bed as if he were the most fragile and precious cargo in the world. He was beginning to understand that to Jim, he was. 

After peppering Blair's face with a multitude of chaste little kisses, Jim returned downstairs to take his own shower and turn off the lights for the night. He had to laugh at himself, acting like a lovestruck teenager with the guy he'd been living with for almost three years. In the twenty minutes or so he'd been away from Blair, he already missed him. Thinking of how he would have felt to return to this place alone, with Blair separated from him forever, chilled his soul to its core. He hurried upstairs to the warm reassurance of their shared bed. 

Curled up on what was to become his side of the big bed, where he would be shielded by the wall on one side and a very large, very protective sentinel on the other, Blair was sleeping more soundly than he had in days. Jim finally turned in himself, shifting onto his side to face Blair. The dark lashes and curls still contrasted with light skin, but there was a healthy color slowly coming back to the still-pale face. Watching Blair "sleep" had been a painful vigil before the younger man had regained consciousness in the hospital. But knowing those incomparable blue eyes would open in a few hours, and a healthy, coherent Blair would be back with him, Jim could find pleasure again in watching his soulmate in this peaceful state. 

Smiling when he noticed Blair's hand resting palm up on the pillow, Jim seized the opportunity to carefully take the hand in both of his, resting his head just inches from it. With Blair's heart thumping out its healthy, sleeping rhythm, the warmth of the smaller hand in his, and Blair's scent carried on the air he breathed, Jim slid off into his first peaceful sleep in weeks. 

End of this round... :-) 


End file.
